Cushy Severance for BofA Chairman Gifford

An eight-figure severance package and a special deal on Boston Red Sox tickets are among the benefits Bank of America Corp. Chairman Charles “Chad” Gifford will get when he retires Jan. 31.

Gifford will receive severance pay of about $16.4 million, plus cash incentives of up to $8.67 million, when he retires, the No. 3 U.S. bank said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday.

Gifford, 62, had been chief executive of Boston-based FleetBoston Financial Corp., the No. 7 U.S. bank, before Bank of America bought that company for $48 billion in April.

Kenneth Lewis, who is Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America’s chief executive, will add the chairman’s title when Gifford steps down.

For five years, Gifford will be paid $50,000 a year for consulting services and will be given use of a company jet for up to 120 hours a year.

He will also have the opportunity to buy up to four season tickets for as many as 15 Red Sox baseball games of his choosing each year “for as long as he requests,” the filing said. The Red Sox this year won the World Series for the first time since 1918.

Gifford agreed to the severance benefits as a result of the 1999 merger between BankBoston Corp. and Fleet Financial Group Inc.